In May and June 2012, European Parliament and representatives of the Council and the European Commission have reached a preliminary deal on new EU (European Union) roaming rules that will fundamentally change the market for international roaming to the benefit of holidaymakers and business users alike.
From 1 Jul. 2014, customers would have the option to sign up for a cheaper mobile roaming contract, separate from their contract for national mobile services, while keeping the same phone number. Consumers will therefore be able to easily compare roaming services (independently from other mobile services) and benefit from lower prices.
The European Commission proposes more competition, and more choice and lower prices for the mobile phone user abroad. The proposal would also give mobile operators (including so-called virtual mobile operators, who do not have their own network) the right to use other operators' networks in other Member Country at regulated wholesale prices, and so encourage more operators to compete on the roaming market. To cover the period until structural measures become fully effective and competition drives retail prices down, the proposal would progressively lower current retail price caps on voice and texting (SMS) services and introduce a new retail price cap for mobile data services.
To support the new EU roaming regulation, the most European operators are urgently asking customer to propose solution to support the new regulation, so the people will have the option to immediately choose an alternative roaming provider (ARP) as of 1 Jul. 2014.
Currently, the roaming contract of end user is still defined by Home Mobile Network Operator (H-MVO), the roaming tariff plan is closely bundled into the home tariff plan.
This current roaming charging solution doesn't support the new EU regulation requirement. As the new EU regulation requirement, the mobile roaming contract shall be separated from their contract for national mobile services, while keeping the same phone number, the mobile roaming service and payment contract can be offered from the different alternative roaming partners.